1 Moreover Elihu answered,
2 “Do you think this to be your right, or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’
3 That you ask, ‘What advantage will it be to you? What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?’
4 I will answer you, and your companions with you.
5 Look to the heavens, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you.
6 If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are, and your righteousness may profit a son of man.
9 “By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out. They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.
10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
12 There they cry, but no one gives answer, because of the pride of evil men.
13 Surely God will not hear an empty cry, neither will the Almighty regard it.
14 How much less when you say you don’t see him. The cause is before him, and you wait for him!
15 But now, because he has not visited in his anger, neither does he greatly regard arrogance.
16 Therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk, and he multiplies words without knowledge.”
Study Job 35
Read the complete chapter before isolating one sentence, and note the reference and edition beside anything you quote. Then take a focused next step: a passage-note method or a memory practice method .
Edition and source notes
This is the World English Bible, a public-domain translation, in its own numbering: 16 verses of Job 35, with punctuation and line breaks as published. Source notes are labelled separately; the publisher’s headings and cross references are not part of the text. WEB edition notes.
Read Job 35 in the King James Version or the Berean Standard Bible .
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